January 30 - President Barack Obama says he will try to pass an immigration reform that will stop deportation and will give citizenship to 11 million immigrants in the United States. The reform might go into law at the end of the year.

October 10 - Delegates from some 140 countries and territories signed Minamata Treaty, a UNEP treaty designed to protect human health and the environment from emissions and releases of mercury and mercury compounds.[8]

In the comic book Legion of Super-Heroes (Number 6, July 2005, DC Comics), Cosmic Boy avers that the Bar Code on the cover of comic books is "destined to become outlawed in the Design Aesthetic Wars of 2013."